Assessing Student Learning:

Summative Assessments

So far in this module, you've learned how formative assessment helps instructors gather information and offer feedback on student learning throughout the course of the semester. Equally as important is summative assessment, which allows instructors to gather information on student learning in order to assign a grade. Although summative and formative assessments may share characteristics, what you do with them differs.

Although paper-and-pencil tests remain the most popular way of measuring cumulative achievement, the following pages offer some alternatives to traditional exams.